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I grimaced. Her mind had veered toward a dangerous subject. “Yeah.”
“Answer all my questions. You promise?”
“Si?” I replied with trepidation, sweat once again beading at my hairline. I’d just dangled a proverbial carrot in front of a motherly I-want-my-son-to-find-a nice-girl horse. The cogs in her head were turning, and I knew what was going to come next.
Mom looked up then and smiled wide. Her slate-grey eyes, so much like my own, held an evil glint. “Does that string have a name? Am I going to be a grandmother?”
What. The. Hell? “Jesus, Mom. You…no…I—” Stepping out of her embrace, I placed my hands on her shoulders and gaped at her like a fish. That woman had no filter.
Almost four years of self-imposed celibacy didn’t add up to settling down with the first woman that crossed my path. Just no. My cock was looking for the right-now kind of pussy.
Just a quick fuck, and then leave in the morning.
“Answer the question, Hunter. Will I be a grandmother within the next year?”
“I’m not going to dignify that with an answer.”
“Give me something, son. Anything.” Mom widened her eyes and gave me the most pathetic look. It didn’t work. I didn’t feel the least bit bad for not giving in. In my twenty-two years, there had only been one person who could manipulate me like that, and I hadn’t seen her in years.
She wasn’t flesh and blood, but the girl had woven herself into my heart like a secondary little sister. More than.
“Please stop.” Running an agitated hand through my hair, I pulled on the long strands, undoing the small bun I kept it in, and massaged my temples while counting to ten. “Don’t start. I just got here.”
“You aren’t denying it.” Mom giggled; her fingers caged my jaw, pulling me down to her eye level. “When you are ready, I’d love to meet her. Promise to be on my best behavior.”
“You? Best behavior?” Laughter, loud and obnoxious, followed those words a second before my little sister fully entered the room. Her eyes met mine, and a huge smile broke out across her face. “Nice of you to show your face.”
She’d changed so much since I’d been gone. Gone were the chubby cheeks and glasses, and what stood before me now was a beautiful girl who was still incredibly short for her age. Her hair, the same shade of black as mine, was cut into a short, angular bob with side-swept bangs.
Emi looked like a miniature adult.
“Is that any way to greet your big brother, Emily? Come here, squirt.”
At my mention of her childhood nickname, her blue eyes narrowed, and her lips pursed. “Stuff it.”
“Stop being melodramatic.”
“Quit being a jerk.” Emily walked over to me then and punched my shoulder. It didn’t hurt in the least, but I didn’t say a word as I pulled her in for a tight hug. “Missed you,” she whispered into my shirt, her hold tight.
I squeezed her tighter. “Missed you too, squirt.” At that, she poked my ribs and I jumped back and away.
“Kids, behave,” Mom chided, but the happiness in her tone was clear; it’d been too long since we’d both been home. “And where the hell is your father?”
“I’m right here, Kelly.” Dad walked into the room still in his scrubs. He was a dentist, while mom ran a small accounting firm from the house. “And I see we have another crasher for the week?”
Another crasher? Is Bailey here too?
I hadn’t seen her in so long. Too long, if I were being honest.
“Seems so.” Mom walked over to him and kissed his cheek. “Now, say hi, and please go get changed for dinner.” Dad nodded, but the second she turned around, he rolled his eyes. “Saw that, Jeff!”
He paused mid-step at her yell. “That woman has eyes in the back of her head,” Dad muttered before pulling me in for a bone-crushing hug, causing Emily to squeak in my hold. We laughed at her while she squirmed out from our embrace.
“You guys suck.”
“And maybe, you don’t feel like going out tonight?” Dad released me and turned around to look at her with a raised brow. “You guys can stay in and…what is it you kids call it? Chill?”
“Love you, Daddy, but that would be a no.” Emi batted her lashes.
